At least, that’s how Georgia offensive line coach Will Friend sees it.

“You don’t ever have enough,” Friend said.

That’s certainly true for the fifth-ranked Bulldogs as they prepare to face Southeastern Conference foe Vanderbilt on Saturday night.

Starting left guard Dallas Lee suffered an ankle sprain in the first half of Georgia’s matchup with Florida Atlantic last week, and top backup Watts Dantzler has been sidelined with a sprained ankle since the season opener against Buffalo, giving coaches a cause for some concern.

“I’d like to have more (depth),” said Friend. “Until we have more, we’re going to have to do things like guys playing more than one position to create some depth.”

Kenarious Gates appears to be the most likely candidate to change positions to help. Gates, who has been Georgia’s starting left tackle, finished last week’s game against FAU at left guard in place of Lee. Mark Beard replaced Gates at left tackle, and Friend said he will employ the same rotation if Lee cannot play against the Commodores.

“If we played today, it would (be the same),” Friend said earlier this week. “I don’t want it to be like I’m throwing out that nobody is safe, but you have got to keep showing improvement. If someone else is showing (improvement), maybe they deserve to get in there.”

Beard, a sophomore in his first season at Georgia, transferred in January from Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, where he played tackle. Entering the fall, the 6-foot-5, 302-pound Alabama native switched to guard, but Friend said his transition back to tackle should not be a challenge.

“He’s a good athlete,” Friend said. “He’s more comfortable there.

“He’s got a long way to go, the group does, but he’s shown some things that he’s deserving to play and you’re not going to really know about him until you put him out there.”

With different faces in new places, communication will be the offensive line’s most important challenge, Friend said.

“The communication part of it is so much bigger when you’re with somebody every day and every snap,” said Friend, who cross-trains his linemen to learn both the guard and tackle positions. “We try to roll them enough where that kind of works out.

“When you’re (next to) somebody over and over, the same group, it’s like when you’re married. Communication is important there and in any relationship.”

Jarvis Jones ready for return, not worried about ‘D’

All-American linebacker Jarvis Jones was itching to take the field last week against Florida Atlantic, even after coaches planned to give the junior the day off to nurse his strained groin.

Jones, who suffered the injury in practice prior to his game-changing performance at Missouri on Sept. 8, hid his helmet under the Georgia bench during last week’s game to avoid the temptation of playing.

“It’s always hard not to be able to go to war with my boys,” Jones said. “We put so much time into what we’ve been doing and getting better every week. It’s definitely hard to just sit there and watch.”

In Jones’ absence, Georgia’s defense allowed two first-half touchdowns and several big plays, including a 43-yard rushing score and a 48-yard completion to set up another FAU touchdown. After being ranked fifth in total defense a season ago, Jones knows better days for his defense are ahead.

“I know how good we are,” Jones said. “I definitely do. At the same time, we’ve been playing as many people as we can to build depth. I know some of the numbers y’all see aren’t the greatest or aren’t like they were last year, but it’s still early.

“We haven’t done a lot on defense as far as a lot of our packages and stuff. We still have a lot of stuff to put in. There’s a lot more plays out there to be made. It’s just the fourth game of the season.”

Jones said those big plays serve as a teaching tool for the defense.

“You find out where your heart is,” said Jones. “You find out what guys you can count on in tough times. You find out who really wants to be out there, who is passionate about the game, and who is willing to stick their neck out when things aren’t going well.”

The defense’s weakness comes in the first half. The Bulldogs have allowed a combined 40 first-half points against Buffalo, Missouri and FAU.

“A couple of these games, we’ve gotten off to a slow start in the first half, but you can see in the second half, it’s like night and day,” said Jones.

Georgia’s defense has risen to the occasion in the second half of each of their first three games, allowing 23 points in the third and fourth quarters of those games.

“As we get into SEC play, we know we’re going to have to play from the jump because guys in the SEC are going to jump on you from the get-go.”

With a number of players absent due to injuries and suspensions, the Bulldogs have played a patchwork defense en route to a 3-0 record. Jones figures the defense will only get better when its remaining two absentees — linebacker Alec Ogletree and safety Bacarri Rambo — return.

While some Bulldogs have moved around on the offensive line this week, one young lineman is staying put.

True freshman John Theus has started each game for Georgia at right tackle, and according to head coach Mark Richt, that’s where he will remain, for now.

“For a true freshman, you’re just trying to get him ready to play, period,” Richt said. “The assignments probably wouldn’t be as much of an issue as just learning how to pass set from the left side. He’s gotten so many quality reps on the right. It’s hard to throw a guy over there (at left tackle) especially as a freshman.”

In the meantime, Theus continues to adjust to life as a college lineman.

“I think I’ve gotten better each week,” Theus said. “The way to get better by doing something is by doing it. Throughout the reps and the learning, it’s a process. Practice and scrimmages, you learn a lot, but you never learn like you do in a game when stuff happens.

“I’ve learned as I’ve gone along. I’ve gotten better and improved each week. There are things I’m trying to work on. I know I have a long way to go.”

While Theus won’t be protecting Aaron Murray’s blind side this season, Richt didn’t rule out moving the Jacksonville, Fla., native around in the offseason.

“I don’t know if he’ll change to left tackle ever, actually,” Richt said. “But there’s more of a chance of getting him some reps in the spring and that type of thing if you wanted to experiment.”

Theus said he didn’t even think about switching to left tackle when Dallas Lee was injured and left tackle Kenarious Gates moved to guard. However, the freshman said he’ll be happy wherever coaches use him.

“I’ll do what coaches want me to do,” said the 6-foot-6, 309-pound Theus. “Whatever Coach Friend asks me to do, that’s what I’m going to do. If he wants me to play guard, center, whatever, I’m going to go out there and do my best.”